Start with the journey, not the channel
When growth slows, the first conversation often turns to the media mix. Should the business spend more on search? Try another social platform? Produce more content? Those can be useful questions, but they are easier to answer after looking at the journey a customer actually takes.
Write down the path from first discovery to the action you want someone to take. Include the ad or recommendation, the landing page, the product information, the purchase or enquiry and the next communication. At each point, ask what the person expects, what they need to understand and what might prevent them from moving forward.
Look for a broken promise
One useful place to look is the transition between touchpoints. A campaign might lead with a benefit that is difficult to find on the landing page. A product page might create confidence in the offer but leave delivery questions unanswered. An enquiry page might ask for more information than someone is ready to share.
These are not always channel problems. They can be problems of continuity. Reviewing the promise made at one step and the experience delivered at the next gives brand, creative, commerce and marketing teams a shared subject to work on.
Choose one constraint you can investigate
A long list of potential improvements is not a plan. Choose a specific question, such as whether visitors understand the product distinction or whether the landing page answers the main buying question. Identify the evidence available: customer conversations, support enquiries, site behaviour or purchase data.
Be clear about what the evidence can and cannot tell you. A page exit does not explain a visitor’s motivation by itself. A handful of customer comments can identify a useful hypothesis without proving how common the problem is. Combining different sources helps the team make a more considered decision.
Give the test a shared owner
Agree on the change, who will deliver it and how the team will review the outcome. The useful unit of work might include a new creative angle, a clearer product section and a measurement change. Those pieces belong together when they answer the same question.
This approach does not replace specialist channel expertise. It gives that expertise a common direction. A connected growth plan begins with a shared understanding of the customer’s task, then uses each discipline to make the next step clearer.
A perspective from Collabo. The right approach depends on your business, customers and available evidence.
Let’s put it into practice